


king of packed lunches

by watergator



Series: tumblr prompts [13]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, parent!phan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:08:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29810268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watergator/pseuds/watergator
Summary: phil wants to be a TikTok Mom™
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: tumblr prompts [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1170404
Comments: 10
Kudos: 59





	king of packed lunches

**Author's Note:**

> thank you laura for always indulging in my love for parent!phan :’)

“How the hell do they make it look so good?”

Phil’s back is aching, burning almost, as he’s leant over the kitchen counter, squinting down at his phone as the TikTok replays again for what feels like the billionth time, the speedy hands of a mother perfecting what seems like the worlds most incredible lunch box.

Dan slides up beside him, a baby bottle in one hand and a dish cloth in the other as his large hands make an attempt to squeeze themselves into the bottle to dry it as he peers over Phil’s shoulder to take a look at what he’s watching rather obsessively.

“Because aren’t like, these kinds of mum’s practically  _ baked _ to be perfect?” Dan’s usually sarcastic response comes, but Phil just waves it off with practiced ease as the video plays again and he’s watching a pair over very manicured hands set up a very cute little bento box of star shaped sandwich’s and little cupcake holders of grapes and carrot slices.

“My mum never did any of this,” Phil frowns as the woman in the video scribbles down a rather inspirational note on a sticky note to place inside. “She used to always give me cheese sandwiches when she knew I didn’t like them.”

Dan gives a faux shocked scoff. “Coming for Kath’s neck,” he chuckles. “Get on the phone right now, tell her what for.”

Phil sighs and forces himself to exit out of the app where his phone screen photo stares back at him. It’s him, Dan, and their 6 year old. He smiles. Their 1 year old has priority of his lock screen.

He’s still staring at his phone, his mind wandering when he feels a gentle hand on his shoulder, the soft sound of the bottle being settled on the counter as Dan rubs his thumb into his muscle, just in the right way he knows he needs when he gets like this. 

“Mate,” Dan says softly, and when Phil looks at him, he’s glad he does; his hair is a mess and he’s got faded purple rings beneath his eyes and Phil knows he must look just as bad, but since becoming dads, this is a look of love, he’s come to realise. “Your packed lunches are  _ fine _ ,” he smiles.

“You don’t need to be TikTok mum level of cool. You’re flippin’ Phil Lester level of cool.”

Phil does a half smile and it seems enough to make Dan smile back. 

“I do recall you saying many times over the years we’ve been together that I am the very definition of not cool,” Phil teases and Dan just rolls his eyes.

“Yeah. But you’re  _ dad _ cool. That’s like, the highest rank of cool, I reckon. Trust me, I know how bad dads can be and you are not a bad dad.”

Phil’s tummy does a funny kind of twist at his words, and Phil’s first instinct is to reach out and frown and make a fuss of the man standing here before him.

But years of therapy and endless hours of talking and crying and listening and even some shouting, Phil has come to realise when Dan is making ease of something he’s learnt to let go of, and this is definitely one of those times. He smiles.

“Even if I can’t cut sandwiches into stars?” He pouts playfully. “Or if I can’t make octopus grapes?”

Dan snorts and reaches up to brush back a strand of hair that’s fallen over his forehead, and Phil leans into it like a cat, humming quietly.

“Bub, you’ve seen the inside of kids lunchboxes at the end of a school day,” he says with a quirk of his brow. “Those things are like an atomic bomb made out of exploded yoghurts and mouldy banana peels; they’re never going to stay cute and neat at the hands of a ravenous six year old.”

Phil grimaces. Many an evening has he spend scrubbing away at gross lunchboxes that have indeed suffered some sort of foodsplosion that had the inside smelling like a hot sauna of ham and oranges.

“You’re right,” Phil says, setting his phone down with a smile. “It’s cool that they can do it but… I think my Nutella and Ritz biscuits combo is good enough for me.”

Dan laughs softly before leaning in to press a kiss to Phil’s forehead. His lips are soft and loving and so, so familiar.

“But seriously, next time you wanna have a spiral about school lunchboxes just let me know because spiralling is kinda  _ my  _ thing and I’d much rather fall down any kind of weird rabbit hole instead of spending the last half hour scrubbing milk and spit up off the couch,” Dan says, almost in one breath.

Phil frowns, but then he laughs before he picks up the dish rag he’d been holding, and using it to swat him on the arm. 

“There better not be a stain,” Phil calls out to him as Dan walks away, dramatically rubbing his arm with a scowl.

“You’re a stain!” Dan calls back from the living room. “In my life!”

Phil snorts a laugh and pockets his phone in the back of his jeans with a smile. 

“I know,” he says fondly. “Wouldn’t wanna have it any other way.”

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on tumblr !! @watergator


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